10w40 castrol GTX ?

[Braddy40]

I recently had a service and a thorough check with Mitsubishi in Cardiff for my newly purchased Legnum and suggested they used a 0w30 or 5w30 oil. They ignored this and used 10w40 castrol GTX as its a lot cheaper and keeps their costs down. Is this a problem and should I change the oil soon with a quality oil and treat their oil as a flush or will I be OK for a couple of thousand miles?
Fortunately I supplied them with 10L of Amsoil ATF. Thanks.

[giblet]

I was under the impression that 0W30 and 5W30 were the correct grades to use. Was it a fully synthetic oil? I know Davezj uses Mobil1 0W40 on his Legnum as it helps with the tappet noise. I went with Castrol 5W30 but my tappet noise is quite prominent and rather annoying.

Also did the dealers flush the oil fluid out fully from the torque convertor? I think it took 11 or 12 litres when Davezj flushed mine out a few weeks back.

[Braddy40]

My receipt only shows castrol GTX 10w40 and was told their best man would be on the job.
I did ask if the system would be flushed when changing the ATF as the last owner of the car mentioned using 12 litres, 2 of them to flush. Their response was, yes probably, which I am realising now might have meant no.
I haven't got a tappet noise yet as its only done 47,000 so should be fine with a thinner oil. I had a galant in the past that had high miles and an awful tappet noise.
I expected more from Mitsubishi as I use to take my Galant there. They probably didn't like me telling them how to do their job.

[TAR]

I think that its a semi synth so not suitable for the car. I would insist they put in what you requested. The turbo will destroy a semi synth very quickly.

:happy:

[Braddy40]

Thanks for your advice and help.
If I visit the garage tomorrow would I be able to insist with confidence that 10w40 oil is the wrong oil and may damage my car as I can imagine the mechanic telling me what he put in was correct?

[John TheAntique]

I would be prepared to place a very large bet that they have not done a full ATF flush but merely dumped what is in the box and refilled which takes about 4-5 litres and still leaves another 4-5 litres of potential crud in the system. Probably kept the rest of your ATF.

[Braddy40]

Ouch, I hope not. The Amsoil isn't cheap and don't like the idea of having to buy more to get the job done properly. Guess I wouldn't be able to approach them with that suggestion. So low quality oil change and possible amature ATF change. Excellent. Sounds like I am going to have to find a honest Mechanic who can work on a Legnum in south wales !

[TAR]

VR4's are old and most Mitsi dealers don't have a clue about them.

There are a few independents who have a good knowledge and some very good people in the club. Feel free to ask any questions if you can't find what you want by searching. There is nothing that the club doesn't know about our cars!

:happy:

[chris g]

I would speculate that they use engine oil that they believe is correct and that they have changed atf adequately...

...but as suggested they have not done either job properly.

I do not believe they will use proper oil unless you hand them Amsoil and will not ever flush atf adequately

You need to find a person who can do the jobs as requested and use supplied products

You may have to travel to achieve this...

[Braddy40]

Thank you all for your help and advice.
Would anyone be able to suggest a good man for the job near south Wales?
I will replace the engine oil myself with Castrol edge but would be very grateful if someone could help me change and flush the ATF properly.

[Davezj]

I would go back to the garage and ask them how the actually did the ATF flush. don't accuse them of anything. but see what they say.
if you ask a garage for an engine flush then they will put a flushing agent in the old oil run the car and then drain it and replace with new oil.
this is not how you flush through all the pipework of an auto box.
they may have even drained the sump 5L of ATF, refilled and run the car, then drain it again and refill the sump, as you gave them 10L of ATF.

you must use fully synthetic oil in the engine of a VR4.
did you get a copy of the VR4 hand book with the car when you bought it. it clearly states which spec of oil you need to put in the engine.

by the way you join the club as a paid up member you get discounts at opie oils and performance oil. you will save more than the cost of the membership on your first order of oils.

[Davezj]

Thank you all for your help and advice.
Would anyone be able to suggest a good man for the job near south Wales?
I will replace the engine oil myself with Castrol edge but would be very grateful if someone could help me change and flush the ATF properly.

if you pull the dipstick out of the auto box put a drip of oil on a white paper towel and it should look bright cherry red not dull red. if you have bright cherry red then the flush has need done correctly if it is a dull red then it is likely it is a mix of new and old oil and has not been flushed correctly. when you are paying about £65 for 5L of AMSoil ATF i would not be happy if has not been done correctly as you will need another 10L to ensure you purge all the old oil out. and now it is a more difficult job to judge when the old stuff is purged out of the auto box as it is a much lighter colour than the fully dirty oil.

[Braddy40]

Thanks for the information Dave . Sorry for the slow reply, I have just been fitting a new power steering tensioner which was a bit of a pain to fit but the engine is running much quieter .Surprised how much noise a worn one makes!
I did check the oil colour but will go and do the test on some paper as suggested.

[chris g]

And for oil choice,in the UK at least, best to use Amsoil in the engine and gearbox...
L

[Braddy40]

I connected the Mitsubishi technical help line today regarding the service given as I thought it may be a good idea to talk to their own advisor before approaching the garage.
This was the reply given:
Reference the engine oil I am aware people do have different preferences regarding the oil on their vehicles but we can only advise what it says in the owners handbook and on our Mitsubishi factory oil guide which is 10/30 or 10/40 semi synthetic.
For the automatic transmission fluid I do remember talking to the dealer on this as they phoned on another issue and in conversation they mentioned your vehicle and I did mention to them that when draining the oil they will need to flush the oil cooler and pipes to remove as much as the old oil as possible, this is done by removing both oil feed pipes that go to the cooler at the transmission end and putting one pipe into an oil drainer and use an airline and blow into the other pipe to force the old oil out. This should clear out most of the 8.9 ltrs(at least 2 ltrs will be left in the torque convertor).

What do your think?

[giblet]

Hmm. I was under the impression that the correct way to do it was to disconnect one of the transmission pipes from the engine bay, drain the old fluid out from the sump, refill and then add fresh fluid whilst the car was started for a short period of time. This allows the fluid from the torque converter to be flushed out via the disconnected pipe.

That's the way Dave did it on mine and I think it took 10 litres or so. Fresh fluid was added until the fluid leaving the pipe went from the dark brown colour to fresh cherry red. Dave will be able to advise properly since he knows way way more than me.

[Davezj]

that pretty much sums it. there are lots of oil ways and solenoids in the gear box and the torque converter, you basically need to flush out as much as you can, so i cycle through the gears as well when the oil is being flushed out with the engine running and foot on the brakes i do P - R - N - D - tip 1 - Tip 2 - tip 1 - D - N - R and then cycle thought this again.

the best tip i can give which removes the issue most people have is burping the auto box when filling it through the dipstick tube the ATF can be spat out all over the place. use a small funel that does not fill the dipstick tube hole, this allows the traped air from the auto box to escape without any burping at all. You should be able to do the entire job without spilling a drop of ATF.

the white paper towel check is due to the way it shows up the ture colour of the oil against the white background.

[Braddy40]

I checked the colour from the dipstick onto some paper and I would describe it as a light red which looked clean.
I am waiting for a reply from the technician as I questioned whether the garage would have followed his advice.
Wish you didn't all live so far north as I would certainly like the peace of mind to know its been done properly !

[Davezj]

do you have any of the new atf left so you can compare it to.
it should be bright cherry red.

[TAR]

The method described on the forum for a 'proper' flush for the auto box is not the same way that a dealership would do it.

If they do it according to the service manual, they would use all 10L of your ATF.

:happy:

[Nick Mann]

The oil recommendation is for the non turbo.

[Davezj]

yes that is what i was thinking nick the 10W-40 is for the 2.5L V6 non turbo. just show them the hand book page that specifies the oil for the 6A13tt engine. Braddy40

[Braddy40]

Unfortunately I haven't got any of the ATF left as they either used it or kept it.
When I purchased the car the previous owner kindly included Workshop manuals Volume 1 and 2 and a smaller handbook. All are white and are by JPNZ international. Are these the books you are referring to?
Dave also referred to the handbook regarding the correct oil for the car. Would this be on page 180 of the smaller book?

[Davezj]

Unfortunately I haven't got any of the ATF left as they either used it or kept it.
When I purchased the car the previous owner kindly included Workshop manuals Volume 1 and 2 and a smaller handbook. All are white and are by JPNZ international. Are these the books you are referring to?
Dave also referred to the handbook regarding the correct oil for the car. Would this be on page 180 of the smaller book?

yes page 180 5w-30 or 10W-30 oil for the engine.
0w-30 is ok as well. as long as it is fully synthetic and meets or exceeds the mitsi spec.

[amsoil]

Unless they have 'updated' it Castrol GTX is mineral, its what was the hot ticket in the 70's when we could wear out engines in 60,000 miles! I use it still; but only when I am short of a running in oil!!!. Castrol Magnatec is the next step up in quality (sic) its a hydrocracked mineral oil that can be legally called synthetic. Best from Castrol is Edge, used to be a top full synthetic but Castrol have now been upto their old tricks for years and you might get full synthetic and might not dependant on grade, shame and good luck.
The reason Mitzi specified 30 or 40 grade oils was that the likes of a 0w-30 was very hard if not impossible to get in the late 90's. A poor thicker oil is safer than a poor thin oil.

[Braddy40]

Thanks everyone for all your help and advice!
I am going to do a quick and cheaper fix using Castrol Edge 5w30 purchased from Asda for £38 for now, but will certainly be using Amsoil in a few months and from then on.

Had a bit of a panic yesterday as my Legnum failed it MOT as the engine management light decided to come on suddenly while being tested and decided to throw out very high emissions.
Fortunately my local garage are very fair and helpful and by the time I walked down to collect it had re tested as the light had gone out.
Luckily I had a previous Mot emissions certificate which had a title of 'Non catalyst Equipped Vehicle' as they had tested it as a 'Catalyst Equipped Vehicle'.
This seemed to make a difference as it passed on this occasion. I'm guessing this allows a higher emission % .
Not sure if it was because the light went out.
I know from experience with my V6 Galant, engine light and high emissions equal failing Oxy sensor. The light hasn't been on since. Typical it decided to just come on at the test.

[Nick Mann]

Do a flashy dash thing and see if there is a stored code on the ecu. That should tell you if you need to worry about anything.

[TAR]

As Nick is alluding to, you can get the dash to flash out any error codes. To do this you need to short pin 1 to pin 4 on the diagnostic connecter which is located by your left knee under the dash.

Post up your results and someone will tell you what the codes mean.

:happy:

[amsoil]

May I respectfully suggest that the very best investment you can make as a VR4 owner is to pay the club membership fee which is small, and will let you into a world of knowledge on these cars, Far more than any dealer or supposed expert out there. Not only what the book says but also the practical side of what works and how to do it.

[chris g]

And I was going to post...

...just buy bloody Amsoil every time...

[Rambaud]

And I was going to post...

...just buy bloody Amsoil every time...

And that would be my "default" position.

[Braddy40]

As You can see, I have taken the advice and become a full member!
All I need to do now is save up for some Amsoil.
Does my new membership allow discount with Mr Amsoil Or Camskill?

[Braddy40]

Oops, sorry, just found the Info in Members Discount!

[TAR]

Camskill appears to be a bit hit and miss for discount. I always get a small discount from them by mentioning I am a club VR4 member in the notes when I order.

:happy: